The Return of The Resin

Oddly redolent of cheap air freshener—that dorm room staple—Carleton’s residence newspaper, The Resin, has risen from the black bin of media history.

Launched as the Pho-paw in 1973 and presumed dead from mismanagement in 2008, the resurrected Resin is a tabloid aimed at an on-campus community larger than Dawson City, Yukon or Carman, Manitoba.

“We believe a newspaper is still the most effective way to reach all 3,500 residence students,” says Joel Tallerico, vice-president, administration, for the Rideau River Residence Association, the arms-length publishers of the born-again biweekly.

Historically, The Resin, has focused on the timeless challenges and distractions of residence living, with such memorable headlines as:

Yearbook Will Be Late Again—April 1982

Residence Hockey Draft a Farce—February 1983

Council Meeting Longer than Expected—November 1985

We All Deserve Microwaves—November 1991

Real Juice: Only Available At Lunch—October 1999

This time around, The Resin’s new editor-in-chief, second-year j-schooler and Frontenac House resident Luke Bradley, promises less emphasis on campus news—“The Charlatan has a lock on that,”—and more features and profiles in aid of his proclaimed mission “to help build a residence community.”

But, of course, there’s always the possibility of an All the President’s Men moment such as the one delivered in the late 1970s by then Resin editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon, who went on to hold a like position with The Globe and Mail. It was Greenspon who brought down his own bosses at RRRA by exposing their taste for champagne, lobster, and cigars on the student dime.

Would Bradley do the same in the unlikely event that something similar happened on his watch?